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NZ Sale Invitation

NZ Sale is an exclusive, private, online shopping club. We conduct private sales to our members only of some of the best luxury and premium brands in the world, all open for a limited time only, and featuring discounts of up to 80% off retail!

I'm already in and this is your invitation to join -- it's free, all you do is click on this link!

In case some of you haven’t noticed the latest Volkswagen Polo ad running on New Zealand television at the moment, I’d suggest you watch the video above and then compare it’s music to that of the ad, or vice versa.

What you will notice is that they are one and the same, because the song is “We Walk In Circles” by Auckland, New Zealand based synth-pop duo “Computers Want Me Dead”, aka Sam Harvey and Damien Daniels.

While I couldn’t find a video of the ad, I will keep my eyes open for one.

I’ve just returned from Mystro’s performance at The Khuja Lounge moments ago and thought I’d share a snap of the man himself doing his thing - which I hope will satisfy you until I can get the all the shots I took, as well as some video, uploaded.

Mystro put on such a great performance that I was actually on the floor dancing – this is something I hardly ever do because, believe it or not, I’m a bit shy about that sort of thing. Seriously!

I’m off to bed now but please do be on the look out for more photos from the gig to be uploaded very soon.

Mystro is one of UK hip-hop's brightest vocal talents often found regularly hosting Hip Hop events around London. Although his skills & reputation have mainly developed on stage, Mystro is successful in transferring the energy, personality & success of his live performances into recording.

This West London representative is an MC who got on the circuit through various mixtape and open mic appearances leading to him releasing a debut single on the DealReal record label entitled 'Kiss That Arse Goodnight' b/w 'The Words Out' featuring Skinnyman and Jargon.

After the release of his debut single Mystro was given the opportunity of performing at various show cases such as The Apricot Jam, Undisclosed Records launch party and Choice FM's Flava of the Month to name a few, proving to his audience that he can also keep it live on stage as well as in the studio, he also forms part of the Braintax live set alongside DJ Harry Love.

Joining the musical dots and colouring in your ears, Gilles Peterson is the tastemaker’s tastemaker.

From his origins in the halcyon days of UK pirate radio, through to his long standing and globally revered Worldwide show on Radio 1, a nod from Gilles on the airwaves is a priceless affirmation that can’t be bought or sold. If there’s any doubt about that, ask local recent recipients of his highly esteemed patronage, like 2005 Worldwide Album Of The Year winners Fat Freddy’s Drop, or the Turnaround tipped Electric Wire Hustle and Julien Dyne, both of whom were featured amongst his Worldwide tracks of 2009. Recent guests have included Digital Mystikz’ Mala, Mos Def, Joy Orbison and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, which should give a small clue to the depth and breadth, of this musically obsessed gentleman’s taste and reach.

Gilles’s Acid Jazz and Talkin’ Loud record labels came to symbolize, and embody, the top shelf of sideways jazz and elsewhere sounds, that permeated the progressive playlists of the late 80’s and 90’s. Now his latest imprint Brownswood Recordings (Jose James, Soil & Pimp Sessions, the Bubblers series etc) has become a vital valve on the most discerning retro rolled and futuristically flavoured sounds, based purely on ruthless quality control and superior beatsmanship.

His first New Zealand performances at the Box, back in the early/mid 90’s, still rate amongst the most spectacular and defining moments in Auckland club culture. However it has been too long since Gilles has been seen around these parts in his element, laying it down clubwise in the unique style and fashion he has honed since the legendary Dingwalls and Electric Ballroom days of over two decades ago.

While others may rely on mix tricks to make the most of not a great deal, Gilles has the goods, the real goods… to take you on a journey through crates that are the envy of collectors and new school beatheads globally. The chance to see the only NZ appearance of one of the worlds most in demand (and yet resolutely individual and adventurous) DJ’s, in the Turnaround atmosphere, is guaranteed to be one of the highlights of the year, and a full sell-out. An elevated mind and open ears are essential, don’t miss!

I was just sitting here enjoying the new phone, which is also a very good Personal Media Player, and the above song happened to play.

The song is “Modern Marvel” by Mos Def and it’s from his 2004 released CD “The New Danger”.

Modern Marvel samples the hauntingly beautiful, classic Marvin Gaye song “What’s Going On”, which I’ve embedded below, and tells a tale of life in the 21st century ghetto which still hasn’t changed much in the almost 40 years since Marvin wrote his song dealing with many of same pressing social issues.

Will Mos Def’s telling of this story be designated as a classic as Marvin’s was? Only time will truly tell. However, I do believe the answer is a resounding yes.

I was just browsing the Web, as I do, looking for interesting things to blog about and I happened to run across the above featured video portfolio of multi-talented, New Zealand Maori artist Maz Melhish aka Jaded Sphnix.

When I write that Maz is multi-talented, what I’m referring to is the number of outlets in which she expresses herself. Her areas of creative pursuit include sketching, painting, sculpting, photography, make-up, special effects, body art, photo manipulation, website design and graphic design.

Oddly enough, she and I have spoken from time to time on Twitter. However, I wasn’t aware of the magnitude of her talents until now - I must have been sleeping on that one! ;)

Anyway, please do view Maz’s video portfolio – it’s a live one - and do check her out at the hyperlink above.

The Gaslamp Killer is a Los Angeles-based DJ whose eclectic animal style ranges from psychedelia and world music to dubstep and left-field hip-hop. Associated with Flying Lotus Brainfeeder Records, he made his production debut in the late 2000s with a series of EPs.

Born William Benjamin Bensussen, he originally comes from San Diego, CA, whose downtown Gaslamp District’s bar scene inspired him to name himself The Gaslamp Killer in disgust for much of the patronage. But his real home is behind the turntables, where his wild style takes DJing into the realm of freak fest psychedelia.

Upon relocating to Los Angeles, he found a niche for himself amid the city’s massive underground party scene and ultimately found a home for himself as a resident DJ at the club Low End Theory, which resulted in a series of club-sponsored podcasts. He also released a series of mix CDs, among them Gaslamp Killers (2007), Its a Rocky Road (2007), I Spit On Your Grave (2008), Hell and the Lake of Fire Are Waiting For You! (2009) and All Killer (2009), the latter a label showcase for the London-based world psychedelia imprint Finders Keepers Records.

As a producer, The Gaslamp Killer made his debut in the late 2000s, releasing, a split single with Free the Robots The Killer Robots, in 2008 and EP My Troubled Mind in 2009.

I have to admit that I’ve never been a huge fan of the Black Eyed Peas. However, the above featured video may just change my mind about their work.

Since I’ve always been very interested in science and technology – I worked in Computer Science for close to two decades prior to my current incarnation as a social media person – and, I’ve always been a huge fan of dance music, after watching the video you’ll probably understand why it appeals to me.

For some reason this song passed through my mind as I was just about to fall asleep on the couch tonight, and I thought I’d share it with you all, before I got up and dragged my ass to bed. ;)

The song is ‘Insensible’, which was taken from the 2002 released CD ‘Solace’, by a British trip-hop duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Saul Freeman and singer Nicola Hitchcock. The duo formed a band called Mandalay.

It’s rather unfortunate that Mandalay split up shortly after the release as I felt they had just fully matured musically and they were posed to take on America in a big way. Supposedly, the breakup was due to the commonly cited artistic and personal differences that we so often hear about in such situations.

I was just watching one of New Zealand’s national music TV channels and they played the above featured video, by a band called Dirty Projectors, which I found very interesting.

What I found interesting about it is that the music has a very African feel to it and the lead vocalist, Amber Coffman, sings in style that is reminiscent of female African-American R&B singers.

This isn’t the first time that musicians of European descent have experimented with African and African-American invented musical styles, sometimes very successfully I might add, and I’ve never had a problem with them doing so as long as they acknowledge their influences. However, I still sit up and take notice every time they do and compare them to their Black contemporaries for authenticity.

Dirty Projectors are scheduled to perform at Auckland’s Montecristo Room on March 3. Perhaps I’ll go down and check them out in person.

Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning, after the Lord Bishop gig, I decided to roam the dance clubs of Central Auckland looking for interesting people and things to photograph.

I very much enjoy dance club photography because, generally, people are at their most relaxed in such environments. They’re just there to have a good time and to forget their troubles and dance, if I may be so bold as to quote Bob Marley. ;)

Speaking of relaxed, the two young women featured above, totally unprompted by me of course, decided to perform for my camera’s benefit upon seeing me snapping away at this one club - I don’t recall the name - I happened to walk into.

The results, I feel, are spectacular!

Now, I didn’t catch their names – I wasn’t really interested in them as people, just as photographic subjects - and I have no idea if either of them was a professionally trained dancer. However, I did very much enjoy their performance as it was very free, uninhibited and sensual without being overtly sexual. (I’m not some middle aged pervert with a camera going around stalking young women.)

Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning, after I got through snapping and chatting with Lord Bishop at The Bacca Room, I decided to roam the streets of downtown Auckland looking for other interesting people and places to photograph.

I roamed down the lower end of Queen Street for awhile, snapped some there, and eventually made my way up to K’ Road.

Since it was a very early on Thursday morning, and most regular people have regular jobs which eat into their leisure time, K’ Road was all but ghost town except for the Family Bar.

Anyone that’s familiar with the Family Bar knows what it’s all about. However, for those of you that aren’t, it bills itself as “The Gayest Bar in New Zealand”. LOL! :)

Some of you are probably wondering what I, being a heterosexual man, was doing at a gay bar. There’s only one reason I was there, that being the place is damn fun. So, get your mind out of the gutter! ;)

The music at the Family Bar was very lively and the crowd was probably one of the most fun loving I’ve ever encountered during all my years of club going.

I did occasionally get some guy eyeing me up and attempting to chat me up for a leg-over (i.e. sex). Also, I had my hand held a bit too long upon offering it for handshakes during introductions. However, none of it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle as homophobia has no place in my life. Why would it, since I have many LGBT friends and family members?

Anyway, please do enjoy the photos above I snapped at the Family Bar that morning. And, if you get a chance, do pop in. I highly recommend it!

Heligoland is the fifth regular studio album from the collaborative British music production duo Massive Attack, entitled after the German archipelago of the same name. It had been officially released everywhere except North America by the 8 February 2010 (US and Canada on February 9 2010) – seven years after the release of their previous non-soundtrack, standalone studio album, 100th Window. The record features always-chosen guest singer, Horace Andy and the following other invited vocalists: Tunde Adebimpe, Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Guy Garvey and Martina Topley-Bird, as well as guitar playing by Adrian Utley of Portishead (on "Saturday Come Slow"), keys from Portishead collaborator John Baggott (most notably on "Atlas Air"), keys and synth bass from Damon Albarn ("Splitting the Atom" and "Flat of the Blade" respectively), bass by Neil Davidge ("Girl I Love You") and bass by Billy Fuller of Beak on various tracks.

The record features drumming from the recently deceased Jerry Fuchs. This is in addition to the work of regular session and touring drummer Damon Reece. On the sleeve notes, long-time session guitar collaborator, Angelo Bruschini is only recognised for live work and appears to have no studio credit. Dan Brown and Stew Jackson (Robot Club) co-wrote "Paradise Circus", played guitar, programmed and engineered. Tim Goldsworthy contributed additional production (specific tracks remain unstated). Most tracks were mixed with Mark "Spike" Stent and then all were mastered with Tim Young at Metropolis Studios, as with previous records. Overall, Neil Davidge co-produced all Heligoland's tracks with Robert Del Naja only (except 3, 7 and 9 where Grant Marshall was involved), though Marshall has a co-write credit on every track. The album is dedicated to the memory of acclaimed Blue Lines co-producer, Jonny Dollar.

The Deluxe Edition of Heligoland available digitally features bonus tracks (remixes and "False Flags" B-side, "United Snakes"). There will also be a vinyl release. Heligoland Remixed (amounting to the same as the Deluxe Edition's bonus tracks, except for "United Snakes" being replaced by a second Gui Boratto dub remix) has been uploaded for listening on the duo's Facebook page.

The announced release date of May 2010 for the post-Heligoland EP intended to feature leftover tracks, including some songs known by the public from past tours having previously been performed live, such as "Dobro" and/or possibly (the Guy Garvey co-penned) "Red Light" (or whatever those tracks end up being called), as well as one or more unheard songs, such as the Martina Topley-Bird-sung "Invade Me", now appears to have been delayed to at least June or July 2010, according to Marshall. As was the case in 2009, the duo will have to interweave their touring and studio schedules to finish the planned EP.

He's flamboyant, sexy, rude, wild, he's the one and only Lord Bishop, performing live at the Bacco room in Auckland.

With support from with Source Force Five Surf Friends and The Dirty Sweets.

Lord Bishop could be called the original punk, resuming where MC5 left. He's filled with the energy of black rock icons like Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. He's not exactly an overly talented guitar player, and he's also crafting his songs that they survive without solos, but the sheer energy he's putting into bullet fast songs like War Stop The War or Devil Inside put him apart from most other bands.

Lord Bishop is playing deliberately with clichés, hiding his cultivated and intelligent inner self behind a shocking stage persona that is as acutely sexist as it is radically anarchist, when it comes to political points of view. I know a lot of people who absolutely hate everything the Lord does, but I know just as many who adore his shameless take on punk and rock'n'roll. There is no middle ground possible here, and I am proud to tell that I belong to the latter group.

Source/Powertool Records

For the first time ever Lord Bishop Rocks! will be rocking New Zealand, doing a full national tour. Playing live and touring is what the Lord does best. He plays up to 200 shows a year and is a rock icon in Europe.

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949) is an African-American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word soul performer and his collaborative work with musician Brian Jackson. His collaborative efforts with Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and decorative vocal styles by Scott-Heron. The music of these albums, most notably Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. Scott-Heron's recording work is often associated with black militant activism and has received much critical acclaim for one of his most well-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". On his influence, Allmusic wrote "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists". Source/Wikipedia

The above video is taken from Gil’s first new CD in fifteen years, “I’m New Here”, due to be released on February 8/9th.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the event raised a bit over $2,000 for Unicef NZ’s relief efforts in Haiti. However, If you feel to need to donate more, please click on the hyperlink above, and do as you see fit.

While I didn’t stay as long as I would have liked to, I was too tired from Saturday night/Sunday morning really, I did stay long enough to appreciate what was going on, and to have a few chats with some very interesting and nice people.

Auckland seems to be turning into a rather cosmopolitan city and this is being reflected in the makeup of it’s population. I’ve encountered people from all over the world here recently and quite enjoy the vibe they bring to the place.

As far as the music went, most of it was of the Hip-Hop, Reggae and Drum N’ Bass variety, and all of the performances were really quite good.

Featured above are a number of shots I took surrounding Fiesta Del Sol last Saturday night. I write “surrounding” because a number of the shots were taken later during the ride back to Auckland and at the Spy Bar where some of us held an unofficial afterparty.

Regarding the event, I found it quite entertaining and I had a wonderful time. As matter of fact, I had such a wonderful time that I didn’t wind up getting home until 10AM the next morning! LOL!

The music was good, the food was good, the facilities were good and so were most of the people.

I did find the layout of the venue, Stonyridge Vineyard, to be a bit confining for the number of people that actually attended. And, I would have preferred someplace flatter and more spacious, as I found myself having to watch my footing to avoid rolling down hill, and I had to fight my way through the crowd, on numerous occasions.

In the end it was all good though and everyone I spoke to about it mentioned having a great time.

Remember I blogged about DJ Carl Cox vacationing here in New Zealand this month? Well, an associate of mine, Linda Mitchell, sent me the above photo of Carl playing to a crowd of 200 down in Queenstown on 30 January.

It would seem that some people think they’ll get their photo featured on this blog if they demand I snap them when they encounter me at an event.

Depending on the person, and the way the demand is put forth, I may snap the photo without an argument or I may not. However, my not arguing isn’t due to being intimidated by them.

Sometimes I just don’t feel like butting heads with a control freak or a narcissist for whatever reason.

For the record, I am not an event photographer, unofficial or otherwise, and I don’t want to be one!

When I’m at a high profile event I’m there capturing and reviewing what’s important to me, and a growing international audience, so that I can feature it on this blog. Therefore, I’m acting as a journalist who just happens to be carrying a high-end camera around with him.

If you’re not interesting enough, famous enough, or not a friend of mine, I have absolutely no desire to snap your photo! Sorry, but that’s just how it goes! However, if you ask me nicely I’ll most likely snap a photo and it’ll probably be featured on the blog.

Rule #1 when dealing with any photographer: Don’t be demanding with them, especially if you aren’t paying them, because I can guarantee you that even if they comply they’ll delete the photo at their first opportunity.